Lonely Strangers
by boneslover13
Summary: A myserious woman enters Garsiv's world in one day, then she's gone. Compelled to find his trader brother he doesn't think much of the woman, but when he runs into her again his thoughts change. Garsiv/OC, partial AU. Might not stick to the story line.
1. Chapter 1

Sholeh kept her eyes planted firmly on the ground while she walked through the strange place that had been know by so many as the Valley of Slaves. The normally crowded and loud place was now quiet and scary, more so then it was when it was full of thief's and killers. Sholeh wouldn't know, for it was only her first day in the sandy place, the merchant she had bought bread off of was telling her about the recent problems in the strange place.

Sholeh felt no grief for the merchant as she walked away, he had maid her pay three times the price the bread was worth, she reluctantly gave in because she needed the food. She slipped it in her sleeve as she walked down the deserted streets. She looked in horror at the bodies of dead men, women, children and odd looking birds covered the streets.

One man lay up against the wall of a burned down house, blood pouring out of a cut on his forehead, he was an old man, to weak to take care of his injuries. She ran up to him and wiped the blood away from his face using the sleeve of her cloak. "Are you alright, are you hurt anywhere?" She asked, pulling the old man up off the ground. He started to breath loudly before his whole body limply fell into her. His eyes were still open and so was his mouth, but there was no life coming from the man. He had died in her arms, while she tried to help him.

Sholeh placed him back on the ground gently and closed both his eyes and mouth. She said a silent prayer to the gods and hoped his journey to the spirt world would be quick and painless for his soul.

She quickly moved on, not wanting to have the image of his lifeless body in her mind for so long. She kept her head down especialy low so noboody could see the tears the rolled of her cheeks.

"Hello beautiful, what are you doing here, all on your own?" A man walked out of one of the many run down huts. He grabbed her face and forced her to look at him. "Oh, whats wrong darling. Sad that you have yet to meet a man as glorious and amazing as me?" The man let go of her face for a moment to spin around and laugh with his disgusting friends.

"Leave me alone." Sholeh spoke in a firm tone that meant buisness. "Oh, firey one we got here boys!" The man grabbed onto her arm and tried to pull her into the hut he had come out of. "Let me go!" She screamed, kicking at the mans legs. He finally let go when she had punched him square in the nose.

"Now listen here you bitch. Your going to go in that hut and you are going to..." He was silenced by the image of a man on a dark brown horse, wearing Persian armor rode up to them. The man pulled out a rolled up sheet of paper and began to speak to the men, not even paying attention to Sholeh.

Before anyone would look to her she snuck away and back down the street she had come from. There were more Persian soldiers, all asking the men, not the women various questions about some traitor. She kept her head down like she had all day and made her way out of the place she had come to hate over the few hours she had been there.

As soon as Sholeh was out of the final wall of the Valley she dropped to her knees and prayed she would never see the evil man that tried to take advantage of her ever again.

The soldiers that were inside the Valley were now making there way ouside the inner wall. In the front of a long line of soldiers a man rode on a beautiful black stallion, the soldier was wearing royal Persian armor. Behind the royal was an old man, the old man was covered in dirt, sweat, and blood.

Sholeh motioned for the old man to come over to her when he looked in her direction. At first he seemed sceptic about coming to her, but he did. "May I help you?" He asked, trying to hide the pain that was being inflicted apon himself by the ugly wound on his leg. "No, now sit." Sholeh layed her long black cloak out on the ground so she would have a cleaner place to work.

He quickly did as she said, figuring that she was going to fix his leg properly. She did so, removing the cloth that was wrapped around his leg, she cleaned the wound with what little water she had left and a corner of her cloak. She poured the water directly into the wound before wiping at the dirt around the cut. She went threw her bag and pulled out a small needle and thread.

"This will hurt." She said before sticking the needle into his skin and tying the first stitch of many to come. When she was done she helped him up before putting on her cloak and pulling out a piece of bread for him to eat. While he was eating she tore a piece of her cloak off and wrapped it around the old mans leg, where the stitches were to protect it from the sand.

"Let me help you back to the other Persian Soldiers." She said, not giving him a chance to say no. They walked in silence for the first hour or so out in the sun. They followethat'd foot and hoove prints that garb been left in the sand. "Thank you, for fixing my leg. It was very annoying, trying to walk with it wrapped so horibbley." The old man said as she pulled him along, trying to catch up with the men he had been traveling with.

"Your welcome." Was all Sholeh said, wanting to move faster than they were. "Take your armor off." It was an order that left Sholeh's lips, not a request. He did so and upon dropping all of his armor began a hysterical fit of coughing. "Let me carry you." Sholeh didn't wait for his response, she just pulled him up into her small yet strong arms.

"May I ask the girl that is being so kind a question?" The soldier closed his eyes, trying to hide the pain that Sholeh could see on his face. "Yes." Was all she said in return. "Its two questions actually, Why are you helping me, and what is your name, young one?" It didn't take her long to answer. "I'm helping you because your selfish leader obviously wasn't going to." She stopped for a moment to breath hard, and angrily. "My name is Sholeh. If you don't mind me asking, what is your name soldier, and why are you a soldier? You are to old to be doing the tasks a soldier is required to do."

The old man laughed at Sholeh's forwardness. "I don't mind you asking anything. My name is Loticus, I am a soldier because it is what my father was before me, it is what my son is after me. A soldier is what I will always be known as, a soldier is what I want to be know as. I know I am old, but I am good at what I do. Or, what I used to do, I don't think I can fight much more with this leg." Loticus didn't sound so happy at the prospect of not being able to fight anymore.

"I am sorry." Sholeh kept her head down, not making eye contact with Loticus.

A look of anger passed over her face as she thought about the capitan that rode in front of Loticus, even though the old man was injured, he still rode his horse in front of the old man, not bothering to help.

"I know what you are thinking, but don't. You don't understand what young Prince Garsiv is going threw. He has lost his father to his brother, a murderer and trader amongst our people. He wants him dead, and he will do anything to gto it. He has more on his mind than his injured soldiers."

"I understand. I understand death, and murder. I know what its like to lose the people you care for most. Death brings forth something special in all, it is not always a good thing. We learn from death, we learn a lesson that only the gods may teach us through our errors. What your selfish prince is doing is not right. He is looking for revenge, one doesn't see clear with their eyes full of hatred." Sholeh was seething with anger by the time she was done speaking.

"Such wise words for a girl so young. You mustn't of had a lovely childhood." It wasn't a question he asked, but a statement he spoke. "You are right, my childhood was nothing, I did not have one growing up. I was full of hatred for everyone around me. I grew up fast and I messed up with everything I did. I have learned from my mistakes, your prince on the other hand has never had to learn from his mistakes. He has never been disciplined when he has killed the wrong man, said the wrong thing, has he?" Sholeh didn't like talking about her past, but felt she owed it to the old man that was teaching her so much.

She had the same effect on him, as he did on her. Loticus found himself learning so much from the young girl who had helped him without a thought, she had done more to help a man she didn't know in a couple of hours than anyone he had ever known.

"You are right, Prince Garsiv doesn't learn from his mistakes. Now that his father is dead, I have a feeling he shall be seeing the world in a new light, he will see us all for who we aren't. He will see us through the hate that sits in his heart. Not the love that should be there." Sholeh nodded along with the man.

"Is that your flag raised at that camp?" Sholeh asked, holding the old man up so he could see. They may have been standing on the top of a dune, but she didn't think he could see well from the angle his head was lying at.

"Yes, will you take me to the black tent. There will be two guards standing outside of it." That's all the man said before his eyes closed with the weight of his day laboring over him.

She did as he has asked and made her way through the camp. The soldiers looked at her but didn't ask questions upon seeing the old man in her arms. No one asked to take the man from her, if she has carried him this far then she could carry him to the Prince, they thought.

"Who are you?" The guard to the left of her asked, as she approached the black tent Loticus had told her about.

"I am Sholeh, I bring the Prince his soldier, Loticus." She didn't say anymore.

"Wait here." The soldier to the right of her had led her over a dune, out of sight of the camp.

She did as he had said, she laid Loticus down atop of her cloak. She took the leather bag off her shoulder, looking threw it she found what she needed now. A pouch of water, the very last of her water. Sholeh put it to her lips and let the warm liquid flow over her dry tongue, she saved some for Loticus. She shook him gently, trying to wake him without inflicting pain on the old man that had become her friend.

"Drink, you need to." The old man sat up slowly and drank slowly from the pouch. "Thank you, young one. Where are we, have we not arrived at camp yet?" Sholeh laughed at his excitement.

"We arrived, now we await your selfish prince. His guard led me to the dune behind the camp." She stood off the ground and dusted the sand from her clothes.

"Here, darling help me up." He stuck his hand out to her, which she gladly took. She was happy to see he could stand on his own, without her support.

She grabbed her cloak and put it back on, once again she pulled the hood up. Protecting her from the little specks of sand that would float up and try to wedge themselves into her eyes.

"You have done good Sholeh. I will forever be in debt to you." The old man said taking her hand and kissing the top of it. She laughed at his ridiculous manor. "Don't be silly Loticus, I don't deserve your gratitude. I would have done it for anyone, its in my nature to help the helpless." Sholeh was angered at the fact that Loticus didn't have to be helpless, he could have been helped easily, but nobody wanted to help him.

"Relax my darling. You need to stop thinking of anger, I could have been helped by my prince. I am much more happy that it was you that was helping me, though." Loticus was being nice and friendly, unlike the soldiers she had seen in the camp.

"Your prince does not deserve to be called so. If he is not willing to help his people than he should be no more than a thief to his people. You are lucky he is not your king, I cower at the thought of having to serve under his rule. If you are not willing to help your fellow soldiers then you might as well not be willing to help your people." Sholeh didn't notice the man that stood mere feet behind her. Loticus had of course noticed his heinous, and now had his head bowed to the ground.

"How you feel towards me is your own opinion. I will not get angry at you for speaking your mind." The Prince was indeed angry, he was gripping the hilt of his sword with all his strength, Sholeh also noticed his vice grip on the weapon.

"My opinion is not only my own, it is also the opinion of many others. The way you lead your soldiers shows the way you would lead your people, if you had the chance. You are too head strong, you are to young and you don't know what you are doing. I think…" Sholeh was cut off by Loticus.

"Please, Sholeh. Hold your thoughts about young Garsiv to yourself for now." He turned to the young man. "I am sorry your heinous, Sholeh has a rather strong opinion about everything. She was at the Valley of Slaves when we were leaving. She has fixed my leg, she also carried me all the way to camp." Loticus bowed his head again after he finished speaking.

"Why do you tell me this?" Garsiv wasn't happy with Loticus' babbling. "I think she would be a good addition to are search party. She is skilled in medicine, strong and very intelligent." Sholeh gasped at the thought of joining a group of Persians.

"NO." She answered before Garsiv could agree with Loticus. "I will not join this band of taxing blood shedders. You do not see right, your judgment is clouded by the hatred you feel towards your brother. To follow you would be as if asking an angel to join a group of sinners in there journey to hell." Sholeh turned to Loticus and told him thank you, for all of the knowledge they had shared between each other.

"I hope I will get to meet you again, in this life or the next. You have knowledge beyond your years, and beauty beyond any woman I have ever seen before." Loticus opened his arms to her, his last goodbye to her. "I will miss you." Was all Sholeh said in return.

T

Sholeh kept her eyes open as wide as possible, starring at the stars had always relaxed her as a child. She may not be a child, but she is not an adult either. The technique proved to work, still.

"You should have gone with them, have you ever heard of someone being invited into the Persian army. Someone who isn't a Persian none the less!" Her best friend, Leyla screamed at her.

"No, I haven't. Leyla, you didn't see this Prince. An old, injured man walked behind him as he rode his horse. Not even a scratch marred his body. I would never go on a journey if it meant I would have to deal with a selfish man who sees the world through hatred, and all he seeks is revenge and the death of his brother, his brother!" Sholeh, leaned back against the wall of the one room hut she had been sharing with her friend for three years now.

"I bet you he was gorgeous, all princes are gorgeous! Well, was he?" Leyla had never had her mind in the right place. But still, best friends meant something to Sholeh.

"His looks, cannot change my mind. You know me, I will not go along with someone just because they are pleasing to the eyes." Sholeh walked across the room, stretching out her legs.

"I would!" Leyla got up and sat down on one of the two beds in the room. "He was beautiful, I know he was. I can tell by the way you answered."

"I know you would, maybe you should go find him and tell him how much of genius you are, and how good you are with medicine!" Sholeh left the hut after talking with her friend and made her way out to the small market of Alandrinah. Alandrinah, was a small town hidden in the mountains of India. The small town was home to power that Sholeh and Leyla weren't aware of.

"May I have an apple Nadira?" Sholeh smiled at the old woman she had known for almost three years now.

"Sure dearie, free of charge, too!" The kind old woman gave her the apple she asked for then went back to serving her other customers.

People in Alandrinah had no use for money, few ever left the town because there was no reason to. Everything you would ever need is in the small town. Food, shelter and enough people to socialize with.

"So what about this old man you told me of?" Leyla had finally come out of the hut and was fallowing Sholeh out of the village.

"Loticus, you would love him. He is so full of wisdom and he is so nice. I plan on writing him later tonight, I hope you get a chance to meet him." Sholeh stood on the outskirts of the village watching the marvelous sun set.

"It truly is a beautiful part of the world we live in." Leyla stood from the rock she had been sitting on. "I think its time we go in, the sun will be going down soon."

"I'll be in in a few minutes." Sholeh walked farther away from the village, mesmerized by the sunset. Leyla walked away, knowing Sholeh would be fine on her own for a while.

Sholeh watched as the sun sank down behind the mountains, thinking of Loticus, the man who she had befriended in a matter of hours.

H

Sholeh's head bounced up and down to the beat of a healthy horses gallop. She tried to look around but found that her head was bound by a rope of some sort.

"Whaa…Where am I?" Sholeh asked herself, not expecting to get an answer. "You are on the back of my horse, Princess." A gruff sounding voice responded, shocking Sholeh.

"I am no princess, I fear you have captured the wrong woman." She tried to keep calm, but found it exceedingly hard when an unknown man had taken her from the boarder of the village, where she must have fallen asleep.

"You can't lie your way out of this one, I know who you are and I know your power. Your going to get me the dagger, and your going to do it now."

As soon as the man had finished his sentence he untied the cloth that had been covering her eyes and pushed her to the ground, her hands and feet magically unbound.

"How did you do that?" Sholeh got off her butt and stood her ground in front of the giant white horse she must have been riding.

When she finally saw the face of the man that had taken her from the village she gasped. He had bright blue eyes, the most beautiful eyes she had ever seen. His face however wasn't as beautiful, it was marred by multiple scars on the right side of his face. He was dressed in all black and there was a snake coming out of his sleeve and winding around his waste.

"Shut up, Princess. Or, I will bind you again." He kept walking straight, towards what looked to be a oasis, in the endless desert.

Sholeh kept quiet, preferring the freedom to walk over being forced upon a horse. How had he taken her from the village without ever being woken. Nearly impossible the feat must have been, she thought.

They walked for hours before reaching the oasis, then Sholeh talked.

"What is your name? I think I deserve to know my captors name." She tried to keep a steady voice, hiding the fear in her tone.

"What did I tell you about speaking, princess?" As soon as the words left his lips, she was bound again, but this time being pulled by his horse, now at a steady gallop.

Sholeh let out a scream, but it fell on death ears, for the only people around her were what seemed to be a community of black clad men that looked like they could kill her at a moments notice.

Fear instilled itself in her heart, right before everything went black.

* * *

**Well thats the end of the first chapter, I hope you liked it. I know 3rd person point of view is weird, but I wanted to do it for the first chapter, everything from now on is gonna be from Sholeh's point of view. If you have any questions feel free to ask.**

**Review!**


	2. Chapter 2

It did not take me long to discover that the black clad men were indeed assassins. Persian assassins. There leader, Zolm, the man with the scared face and the beautiful blue eyes had untied me as soon as we had made it to the outskirts of the oasis.

My whole body ached from being pulled by his horse to the oasis. Blood covered my wrists, sweat soaked my cloak, and tears covered my face.

The sun was setting and I could see a fire burning in the heart of the oasis.

"You will listen to me, or I will kill you, Princess." My first reaction to his barbaric statement was to tell him the I wasn't the 'Princess' he spoke of, but I quickly decided that the wiser choice would be to keep quiet about my true identity.

"You are to stay by my side at all times, if you stray, even once, I will kill you. You are not to speak, at all. You make a noise and I will kill you. If you try to run away from me I will do worse than kill you, rest assured that when I say this I speak the truth, the whole truth." Zolm finished his statement buy cutting the gag that had been tightly tied over my mouth.

I nodded my thanks and stayed behind him while he crouched by a tree. We had been crouched by the tree for nearly an hour when Zolm started to stir. He was speaking in a hushed voice to himself, in a language I did not understand.

I watched the oasis as he continued to speak in an unknown tongue. The men that were staying in the oasis started to wake, and soon enough the whole flock of men, along with one woman were up, and trying to run from snakes that were launching themselves out of the ground.

"Give me the dagger! Give me the dagger!" A man screamed to another, dark skinned man. Seeing the situation around him the darker man cut the lighter skinner man free. As soon as the dagger was in his hand the light skinned man hit the handle of it against his thigh.

I couldn't help but to let out a gasp when I saw the light skinned man step out of his own body and watch as the scene before me played back on itself and even went forward it seemed, into the future. As soon as the gasp escaped my throat I noticed that I was the only one asides from the man with the dagger that was aware of the events going on. Soon enough the scene returned to what had happened previously, but the man with the dagger killed every snake that popped out of the ground.

As soon as the snakes stopped launching out of the ground Zolm's hand was removed from my mouth and he pulled me back to where the horses had been eating at the small supply of grass they could get to. I dared not to speak as he mounted his own horse and pulled me on behind him.

We road for what seemed like days, but I knew it was only hours we had been going. We road threw the night in some forest like area. The trees were everywhere, and for the first hour or so I was completely amazed.

At one point in time I even attempted to reach out and touch the trunk of one of the trees. Before my finger tips could even touch the bark of the nearest tree Zolm grabbed my arm and pulled it back to wrap around his midsection.

"You are not to touch anything, understood?" His question was more of a statement than anything.

"Yes, understood." Was all I said.

As the sun rose the trees became sparse and the snow had stopped coming down like it had been when we had been riding through the trees. I tried to reposition myself by sitting up a little straighter but my legs had no feeling in them and rendered me almost useless.

We stopped, almost instantly, and Zolm was on the ground pulling me off the horse. I tried to stand but my legs hand no feeling in them once so ever. "I can't stand." Was all I said, for fear that my life might be taken. Zolm pulled me up and held me up by my shoulders.

"Listen to me Princess, If you get the dagger, and you return in to me, I will not kill you. I will let you go." What I would say next was stupid at the time, but monumental later on. "One can not return that which never belonged to you." As soon as the final words left my lips I was greeted with a snake, which had slid out of Zolm's sleeve. The snakes mouth opened to reveal surprisingly long fangs.

"I will give you the dagger, rest assured, I do not mean everything I say." I couldn't help but to smile at the double meaning such a statement could give.

But, Zolm with his narrow tracked mind would never discover what that double meaning was.

"Good. Now Princess, if you want to survive the drop you better hold tightly." He gave me no time to ponder the meaning of his statement.

Zolm had grabbed me around the waist and in a great leap we flew through the sky and landed with a thud on the ground. We had landed in the village of Alandrinah the same village I had originally been taken from.

"What are we doing here! Where are the people? Where are my people?" I screamed as soon as I had noticed the battle that was taking place all around us. I scanned the whole village and my eyes landed on Loticus, my old friend who was currently accompanied by his rather annoying Prince, Garsiv.

"Loticus! Loticus what are you doing here?" I ran to him, as soon as Zolm had been engage in battle with a Persian soldier.

I grabbed his arm and pulled him into one of the many clay huts, and in turn he grabbed his leader, pulling him in with us.

"What are you doing here Sholeh? It is not safe!" Loticus asked me. "It is not safe for you! This is my village! What is the Persian Army doing in Alandrinah?" I sneered at Prince Garsiv as I mentioned the Persian Army.

"We have come for my brother, and the dagger." The Prince answered. "Why is it that everyone is after this dagger? What is so special about it?" I asked.

"You know of the dagger?" Loticus asked. I shook my head no. "Whomever controls the dagger also controls time!"

And then it dawned on me, Zolm, who I originally thought to have been a Persian Assassin was indeed a Hassansins. During one of my many trips an old gypsy woman had told me of the feared Persian warriors who served the king.

"Hassansins! Why didn't I notice it before! It makes perfect sense. Those men out there, the men in black are Hassansins, the Kings warriors! I knew it, you and your King are behind this whole dagger business!" I pointed to the Prince.

"How do you know of the Hassansins?" He asked, before I was ripped out of the hut I had been standing in by a hand around my waist.

"Don't let me remind you of why you're here, again." Zolm pointed out the figure of the woman from the oasis running up the side of the mountain to the sacred temple inside. He pushed a knife in my hand and told me, "Do not return without the dagger."

As I ran up the mountain side I fingered the small knife in my hand, which looked almost identical to the dagger the woman had been holding.

As soon as I stepped into the temple I noticed the woman was already approaching the far wall of the temple. "Hey!" Was the only thing that came to my mind regarding what I should scream at someone to get there attention.

I jumped through the air and landed within feet of the women. "I believe I need that more than you do!" I pointed to the dagger with one hand while I stuck my foot out as fast as I could, knocking her to the ground. With her face down in the ground I grabbed the dagger (the real one) and stuck it in the back of my pants.

I dropped the fake dagger and went to grab for it like it was the real one but she stopped me.

"Dastan!" She screamed as another black clad Hassansin jumped from out of no where it seemed, and landed on the young man who had just came running into the temple.

Faking that I had lost I ran from the temple as fast as I could and back to the village. Zolm was nowhere to be found, so I ran into the hut I had left Loticus and Prince Garsiv in.

"Zolm! What are you doing?" Escaped my lips when I found the leader of the Hassansins with a knife pressed against Loticus' throat. The Prince was lying on the ground, with a fairly large sized bump on his head.

"Do you have the dagger, Princess?" He asked, not taking his eyes, or the knife off of Loticus. "Yes, I do. But I will not give it to you until you let Loticus go. Step away from him and the dagger is yours. You and your men will leave, and I will stay behind with what remains of the Persian Army. Deal?"

"Give me the dagger, and I will not kill your friends, and you will stay."

I gave Zolm the dagger and he put his own knife away and left. Soon after you could hear the sounds of the Hassansins leaving.

"Loticus! Are you okay? How is your leg?" I berated the old man with questions as soon as I was sure that we were all safe.

"I am fine, please, please Sholeh. Check the Prince? For me." I did as he asked and check his mighty prince for any major injuries that would later harm him.

"Your Prince, he is fine. Just unconscious from a blow to the head. He should wake within the hour."

"You! You gave the Hassansins the dagger of time! You have doomed us all!" The woman from the temple came running down the side of the mountain. She ran directly into me and pushed me up against the side of the hut I had just came out of.

"I did it to save my life!" I screamed at her. "Yes, and she saved the Princes life, too. And mine!" Loticus said, pushing the woman off of me.

The women came at me again, this time pulling out the fake dagger that Zolm had given me.

"What is this! What is this!" She screamed at me.

She had pushed me up against the wall and had the fake dagger (which of course had a real blade) pushed into my neck.

"It's a dagger, just not the one your looking for?" She pushed the knife into my throat just a little harder and I felt it cut into my skin, not deep enough to harm me, but just so she could draw blood and strike fear into my heart.

"Listen here _woman,_" I spat her title out with disdain. "I am done with this dagger! I don't care who any of you are, just get out of my village! Now!"

"No! You got the dagger that means you can, and will, get it back! I order you!" She yelled in my face.

"I do not know what you would need me for. But I do know two things," I stopped to try and push the knife away but she wouldn't budge.

"And those things are?"

"The people that Zolm and his men killed, they were my friends. Each and everyone of them I knew. I talked to them not a few days ago, before I was kidnapped. I will get revenge for them, if it is the last thing I do. And, nobody orders me around! I am doing this of my own free will, to Gertrude revenge for my people!" When I was finished she finally removed the dagger from my throat.

"Fine, but before we leave I would like to know everything you know about this Hassansin, Zolm, you speak of." She requested.

"Yes, well. From what I know he can control snakes by some sort of chant he does in another language. I've never heard anyone speak it before he kidnapped me. And his men, they are all well versed in the weapons they use. Zolm, he seemed to think me a Princess. I tried to correct him multiple times but he would always silence me and threaten me with death if I spoke again. I think he has mistaken me for the Princess that guarded the temple or the dagger of time everyone seems to be after. I'm not even sure what the reason for him taking me was. The only thing he ever made me do was take the dagger away from you, that's it." I finished explaining.

"He mistook you for a Princess, well then he really isn't a smart man." I turned my head back to the hut where Prince Garsiv had been knocked out to find him standing, or more leaning against the doorway of the hut.

I had no patients to squabble with him, so I grabbed a shovel and took off to find the body of my only friend Leyla. "We do not leave Alandrinah until every body is buried, they at least deserve a proper burial." Was all I said to the group of few soldiers and the bandits that had arrived with the woman and the man she called Dastan.

I found Leyla's lifeless body in the one room hut we had shared. I broke down when I saw that they had beaten her. Bruises and cuts marred her whole body, she laid in the middle of our house. I took the blanket off my bed and wrapped her in it. I used some string we had lying around to tie the blanket around her.

I carried her body all the way out to the rock I had fell asleep on, the last place I had seen her. We were both very fond of the spot. We would often spend hours lying underneath the stars. While her body was laying on the rock I dug out a shallow grave for her. When I was finished I said a prayer to the Gods in hope that they would grant her passage into the nicest place one could get into, wherever it is that we go after death.

"I am sorry, for what I said to you earlier. That was not nice of me. Please, forgive me." Garsiv had snuck up on me while I had been praying.

"You have insulted me before, and there is no doubt in my mind that you will do it again. Prince Garsiv, you know nothing of sorrow. It is my belief that you have never properly grieved for a loved one you have lost. You lash out at whomever is closest at the time to make up for the giant gapping hole in your chest where your heart should lie. But, nothing lies there. You are an empty man, and if you insulting me makes you feel whole, then please keep doing it. Just remember that every time you insult someone, you lose there trust in you. You should be careful, a sharp tongue isn't always a good thing. I forgive you, for now. But next time you think of insulting me because I am lower than you, remember this. I have saved your life, and I have saved your soldiers lives. You are in debt to me, and you always will be. I will never ask anything of you, because I know you have nothing to give." I left him where he sat to ponder his thoughts while I buried all of the villagers I could find.

W

When the dead were buried we left the injured behind, promising them that we would come back as soon as we had accomplished our goal, to heal them properly.

Prince Garsiv was silent to anybody that tried to speak to him. He was silent towards his own brother, which was shocking, but not unexpected.

We traveled by horse to a place called Alamut, which was the most current city taken over by the Persians. It took us a little over two days of constant riding to get to the city, and when we did finally arrive everyone stayed in disguise.

I, of course was the only one that wore my hood down and didn't have a scarf over my face because nobody knew who I was.

"What is your plan?" Dastan asked me once we had arrived and were in a shadier part of the city.

"I don't have a plan. I was actually thinking something along the lines of a distraction coupled with a little bit of thievery." He seemed confused for a moment before he called over Sheik Amar, the ostrich racing entreasure.

"We need to barrow your Ngbaka." Dastan said.

Sheik Amar nodded his head before calling out, "Seso!" The Ngbaka came as soon as his name had been called. "Our new friends here need to borrow your skill." Seso nodded his head and stood in between Dastan and I as I hashed out the quickly forming plan in my head.

"You will have to wait until night fall to pull this off, and you have to be quick." Dastan said when I had finished telling him and Seso my plan. "But it is possible?" I asked.

"You would have to ask Tamina, she is after all the Princess of Alamut. Tamina!" He called.

"Of course she's the bloody princess, as if there aren't to many pig headed royals in this city already." I said to myself.

"Yes?" Tamina asked, coming up behind us.

"Yes, I was wondering, what are the chances of someone climbing to the top of the tower, retrieving the dagger and coming back down, without getting caught?" I asked.

"That's impossible. You would need at least two people if you were to climb to the top of the tower, someone to grab the dagger and another to fight off all of the guards your going to pass on the way up. And, no doubt the guards that guard the dagger. Not to say that two people should be a minimal number. The amount of skill I fear, does not exist in our group." She finished.

"Interesting, yet doable. Very doable. Dastan, tell me, is your brother over there," I nodded by head in the direction of Garsiv, who had been sitting under a tree since we had arrived in the city. "any good at climbing?" I asked.

"Garsiv!" Dastan called out in a hushed whisper. Soon enough Garsiv was rising to join us in circle. "Do you remember that time I challenged you to climb to the top of the library using only the shelves and you beat me?" He asked.

"Yes, why?" The Prince seemed to be confused as to why he was being asked such and odd question.

"Just wondering if you would like to do a spot of reenacting?" I gave him no choice when I pulled him off to the side with a vice like grip on his forearm.

"You and I, my Prince, will be climbing to the top of the tower to retrieve the dagger. Do not, even try to argue, because it shall get you no where." I released my grip on his arm. "We climb tomorrow night, also bring your best weapon you will be fighting off the majority of the guards." I was turning away when he returned the vice grip on my arm.

"I will not kill my own me." Was all he said.

"I never said you have to kill them, you just have to stop them from killing us, more importantly, me." I removed his hand from my arm. "Sometimes one must act in a malicious manner in order to achieve a goal of a more… divine nature?"

"Divine nature? That dagger is nowhere near divine. That dagger is the reason my father is dead!" The Prince whisper-screamed at me.

"All the more reason to get it back then, with the dagger we could turn back time and make it so your father never died. We could make it so my parents never left me atop a holy mountain, and I wont be cursed with ever having met you. So, what do you say Prince? Work together towards a common goal with a beautiful outcome for the both of us. Or would you rather sit around and wallow in self-pity for the rest of your life. You are after all, a fugitive, an outlaw against your beloved Persia. You now have nothing to lose, and everything to gain. So, again I ask, what do you say my Prince, will you work with me to achieve the greater good?" I asked.

"Yes, yes I will." Was all he said before he went to go sit under his tree.


	3. Chapter 3

**It's been a while guys, but here we go!**

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"Dastan, I need you to do me a favor." He looked up at me in wonder.

It was hot in the city of Alamut, we were hiding in the slums of the city, close to where the servants of the palace stayed. Tonight would be the night we ended this mess.

"What is it, Sholeh?" He asked me in return.

"When this is over, when you turn back time and save your father, will you help me out. Get me out of Alandrinah, as soon as you can. I feel I have a connection with this cursed city. Alamut, that Princess of yours. As much as I hate to say it I feel a connection with the royal pig-head."

Dastan laughed before shaking his head, "Get me the dagger and I will get you out of Alandrinah when all of this has been turned back."

"Deal." I shook his hand before returning to the shade to find refuge from the sun.

"Come now my Prince," I gestured to Garsiv, who was still sitting under his tree like a child. The sun had just began to drop in the sky. "And loose all that shiny metal. I don't need you giving away our position." Garsiv begrudgingly did as I said, stripping himself of his steel, all but his sword before coming to join me. "Are you ready to climb?" I asked. He stood before me in a raged tunic and a pair of trousers. He looked more like a commoner then he probably ever had in his life, that is until he had to open his mouth.

"May we please just get this over with, the sooner we get this cursed dagger, the sooner I no longer have to be associated with you." He sneered before walking off in the direction of the tower.

"Seso," I got the attention of the Ngbaka, "We will meet you up there."

The first twenty or so feet of our climb was uneventful, until we happened across a lone guard. He was smaller than most I had seen, probably young, no more that eighteen years old. The fates, I feared had dealt him a horrible card, but not so horrible card that he must be killed. No, the Prince was to good a man to kill his own soldiers. The only redeeming quality that he had, or so far that I had discovered. It would have been more redeeming if he were not a foolish Persian Prince.

I knocked Garsiv hard on the shoulder before gesturing to the guard. He crept up behind the boy silently, before he brought the hilt of his sword up over his head. He only brought it down heard enough to knock the boy out, he pulled the boy up so he was leaning against the wall. I crossed the landing before continuing to climb up the tower.

"Thank you, for the help back there." Garsiv remarked from below me in his annoyingly, ungrateful tone.

"Yes, well, you said you did not want any of them dead, that was me not killing the boy." I smiled to myself before I continued to climb.

As the moon rose higher in the sky we to rose to new heights. The climb was long and I stopped only once to assist Garsiv in knocking three men out before I kept climbing. It was not long after that when we heard the bells going off. The only conclusion I could come to was the they had found the unconscious guards we had left below us. I started to climb faster, seeing the peek of the tower only twenty feet away. Garsiv had fallen behind, it seemed his reputation as a climber had preceded him.

"Come now, Prince, we are almost there." I urged him forward, hoping for once he would listen. It truly would be horrible if we made it to the top of this cursed tower just to die of exhaustion

I pulled myself up over the lip of the balcony that led into the temple. I was greeted with the sight of Seso battling with a Hassansin.

As soon as Garsiv had pulled himself over the ledge he charged into battle, helping Seso fight. I turned to grab the dagger from the temple, as soon as it was in my hand someone was pulling me out of the temple.

"Hold on." Garsiv told me before he grabbed me and jumped over the ledge.

W

Now, would be the only time in my life I was ever thankful of that annoyingly rude prince. Some how that fool had save us, I didn't plan on asking how, and nor did I on thanking him either.

"What happened, why did you jump?" I asked, he pulled me up from where I had fell to the ground after we had slammed into the side of the tower.

"It was my only plan for escape. You can thank me later. Seso is dead. Do you have the dagger?" He asked. My prayers would have to wait, I thought, as I shoved the dagger into my sleeve. "Yes, I have it." Garsiv for once said nothing, fallowing me as I descended downwards, hoping we would not run into any guards.

My luck however, or the lack of it, was not in our favor. As soon as we came across the first landing the guards were upon us. I tried as hard as I could to not kill any of Garsiv's men but as soon as I saw he had stopped trying to knock them out and was actually fighting, I did the same.

There were five of them, much like the first boy Garsiv had knocked out that night they were small and young. I tried not to feel remorse as I killed two of them, but soon my feelings were replaced by anger when we were ambushed on the next landing and I was nicked by several blades several times. I ignored the pain and kept fighting, soon the adrenalin kicked in and I no longer felt any of my wounds.

As our escape from the tower continued we were attacked by more guards at every landing, by the time we reached the true ground my body was littered with cuts and bruises, I did not stop for the pain though, as I did not even notice it. I pushed myself to run and meet Dastan were we had all been hiding out earlier. It wasn't until I was halfway there that I noticed that Garsiv wasn't behind me anymore and I was forced to turn back and look for the fool.

No sooner had I made my way around the most previous corner I had just turned in the other direction I heard a horse galloping towards me, and that fool of an ex-Prince shouting at me, "Give me your hand!"

I did not hesitate as he pulled me up onto the horse behind him and steered his beastly friend in the direction I had previously been traveling.

"You turned back to get a stupid horse, you truly are an idiot, Prince!" I growled in his ear, not being able to believe his careless stupidity. "Do you have any idea what could have happened, you could have been killed!" I shouted in his ear.

"Don't sound so concerned, it's not becoming of you!" He said to me as he pulled his beast to a stop in the alley where we were to meet Dastan in.

"Did you get?" Dastan ran from a darkened corner, helping me off the beast.

"Yes, here take your dagger." I pulled the dagger from my sleeve before thrusting it into his hands.

"I aught to kill you, you know!" I turned on the fool Prince, "You really are something else, you know that!"

"Sholeh-" Dastan tried to cut me off. "No! This fool" I pointed at his brother behind me. "decided it would be a good idea to run off and steel a horse." I suddenly swayed on my feet, feeling light headed.

"She's been hurt!" I heard Dastan say before I fell backwards, into the fool, ex-Prince.

"What are you talking about?" I tried to push myself out of Garsiv's grasp, but he wouldn't let go. "Let me be! I am fine."

"Stubborn girl," Tamina said "They told me she could not be harmed."

"What are you talking about? Obviously I can be harmed, I'm bleeding aren't I?" I noticed the sticky sensation that was soaking my back.

"She was supposed to be the guardian on the mountain. She wasn't supposed to be hurt, she's my sister!" Tamina, shouted, pushing her way towards me. "One in the temple and one in the mountain. I guard the dagger she guards the sands. They always told me that the gods gifted the second girl with the ability to heal! She shouldn't be hurt!"

"What are you talking about, I'm an orphan, left by my parents. Unwanted, besides I could never be like you pompous fools. All of you, Princes and Princesses." I scoffed, before another wave of nausea came over me and I stopped trying to stand. I felt myself fall backwards, but Garsiv kept me from hitting the ground. "Besides any ability I ever had to heal I used on others."

Tamina looked on at me in a crazed fashion. For the first time since I had met her I felt some sort of affection towards her, nothing sisterly, if she was right about that, but it was something. My thoughts were pushed away by Garsiv pulling me with him.

"Take care of the dagger, and I will keep her safe!" He said to Tamina when we heard the sound of heavy footsteps and clanging metal coming towards us.

"I'm not going with you, Prince" I sneered, the blood loss getting to my head I slumped sideways trying to get away from him.

"Oh, yes you are Princess." He hoisted me up on top of his beastly horse, in front of him in the saddle before he hopped on behind me.

"Dastan, save our father!" Garsiv shouted before we were riding down alley ways again.

As we rode out of the city of Alamut I was forced to rely on Garsiv to keep my in the saddle. I could slowly feel the life coming out of me.

So, this is how the gods wanted me to die, weak and bleeding on a prince. Oh how they must have hated me.

First things got blurry, and then everything sounded so far away. Then it all went black. The next time I opened my eyes we were outside the city somewhere, not far because I could see the sun rising behind the tower.

Never had I thought the sunrise to be so pretty. Things would change today, for better or worse. If Dastan and Tamina either succeed or failed today would be the day. I felt an ache in my chest, so I had a sister. I wasn't given up, per say. That changed things, the world might not have been so horrible as I originally thought it was, but then again I could always be wrong. Even from where we were I could hear shouts coming from the city. Injured soldiers screaming for death to take them, women and children crying in the streets. What sort of hell had Alamut been turned into with the presence of the Persians inside its walls?

We were off the horse and I was lying on that stupid Prince. The Prince who had saved me form death atop the retched tower just so I could be killed by his own men. I wonder how that makes him feel?

"I hate you, you know that." I looked up at the Prince, who was leaning against a rock, wiping the sweat from my brow with his sleeve.

"Yes, I know. You'll be surprised to learn I no longer hate you, though." He smiled, thinking of something I knew naught of.

"I am afraid I have come to respect you, for what you truly are. An insane woman, that is also a vigilante hero. You deserve far more than you were ever dealt. I'm sorry we have ended up like this." He stated.

"Like what? Me dying in the arms of a stupid ex-Prince." I coughed, and Garsiv wiped at the substance that had dribbled down my chin.

"Blood." He whispered under his breath.

"I'm sorry that I spent the last couple weeks of your life hating you, then deciding I no longer hated you. Only to end up getting you killed. You truly do deserve better, after all, you are a Princess." He laughed, a weak, sad laugh.

"I am sorry I was so rude to you. With Loticus, and your men and everything I have ever done to you in the past few weeks. I have always been stubborn and set in my ways. You have grown a lot since I first met you, you know? No longer blinded by your hatred, reunited with your brother, and soon your father. You have a long future ahead of you Garsiv, please don't mess it up by being a pig-headed royal. And stop being so mean to every woman you meet, you know eventually you will have to marry one. Hell, I have even heard you Princes and Kings have more than one wife sometimes." He laughed at that.

"I'm sorry about that too, I was indeed a horrible person to you, too."

"Have we said sorry enough, I never thought death would be filled with so many apologies." I coughed again, and again he wiped the blood from my chin with his sleeve.

I spent a moment watching the sun journey higher in the sky before a feeling overtook me. This would be my last sunset, in this life at least. I should cherish it.

The world got blurry again, things went out of focus and Garsiv seemed so much farther away then he really was. I could feel myself fading for sure, life slowly being sucked out of me. A dizzy spell came upon me for a moment before I heard everything around me grow quieter. I gripped at his hand.

"Please don't let me die alone." I said in a moment of weakness.

If I was to die here, on this day, at least I would have the comfort of a person by my side. Someone who had tried in vain to save me. I would forever be in debt to him, in this life and the next.

He gripped my hand in his before pulling me up so my head rested on his chest. "Never." He pushed the hair out of my face before he held me tight. His lips had barely just touched the top of my head when I saw that all had grown dark around us, around me, except for a small spark of light in the distance. That light grew, slowly, but it grew.

As it got brighter, I could feel it heat up everything around me. I could also feel my own coldness. The warmth of Garsiv's hand on mine I could no longer feel. My whole body felt cold, except for where the light touched my skin, it moved up my legs slowly, creeping up my torso until it covered all but my head.

The light had almost completely engulfed me before...

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**Ah yes, well a means to an end I am afraid. But do not fear my children, we aren't even close to being done with this story yet. :)**

**Review my darlings and tell me what you think.**


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